Robot – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Robot

Robert Hart
Robert Hart
Google DeepMind is building a new robotics lab in Cambridge.

Former Boston Dynamics CTO Aaron Saunders, who joined Google in 2025, announced the project on LinkedIn. “We’re creating a first-class lab to house this team and take robotics to the next level,” he said. It comes as Google pushes deeper into robotics, including with Gemini Robotics AI models and absorbing Alphabet robotics moonshot Intrinsic.

Your secrets aren’t secure with this cute robot toy — they’re on Chinese servers ready to be hacked

Eiliko and its manufacturer, Energize Lab, are seemingly not to be trusted.

Sean Hollister
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Watch Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot change a drill bit with its new four-fingered hands.

The redesigned hands have 13 degrees of freedom and “dense tactile pressure sensors” that allow Atlas to use real-world tools, like the drill it tries out in a demo video. Boston Dynamics also ditched the pinky finger on the new hands to “reduce cost, size, and failure points.” Maybe Tesla will go a similar route with its bot?

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Even in 1967, we worried about whether AI would be our demise.

This episode of the BBC’s Towards Tomorrow explores whether humans and robots can coexist. It features an introduction from Isaac Asimov, in which he wonders whether the line between the two will become meaningless and “humanity itself will die out as humanity, and sort of melt into this machine culture.”

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Roborock finally brings a roller mop to its flagship robovac.

The company’s Saros 20 Flow goes on sale today for $1,499.99 (down from $1,699.99). At 3.53 inches tall, it’s one of the slimmest roller mop models, and with 36,000 Pa suction, camera-based obstacle recognition, and the ability to climb multi-layer thresholds, this robot should be able to get the job done. I got a first look at IFA last week and plan to test it soon.

If you buy something from a link, The Verge may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

<em>Instead of spinning mop pads or its signature VibraRise flat pad, Roborock’s latest robot vacuum uses a self-cleaning roller mop to scrub floors.</em>
<em>The Saros Flow comes with a new RockDock station that cleans and dries the mop with hot water and warm air and empties its bin.</em>
1/2
Instead of spinning mop pads or its signature VibraRise flat pad, Roborock’s latest robot vacuum uses a self-cleaning roller mop to scrub floors.
Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Husqvarna gets the first exception to the FCC’s foreign robot ban for its mowers.

The ban, announced in July, has caused chaos for many manufacturers of robot vacuums, pool cleaners, lawn mowers, and more. Swedish company Husqvarna has secured the first exception to the rule for its 305v IQ, 310v IQ, 420v IQ, and 440v IQ after the Defense Department decided they don’t pose a national security risk.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Everyone’s talking about home robots. But they still can’t do anything.

The buzz at IFA was all around robotics — humanoids, quadrupeds, and wheeled bots designed to be household helpers and companions. I was on a panel (watch it here) where roboticists and entrepreneurs insisted that in five years everyone will know someone with a humanoid at home.

I don’t buy it. Yes, I saw some impressive-looking robots. But behind almost every one was a human with a PlayStation controller.

The best tech and gadgets announced at IFA 2026

Double-decker robovacs, a smartphone that eliminates the screen bezel, and another laptop with an expanding screen.

Andrew Liszewski
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Dyson launches three new robot vacuums.

The Nurovi range features a robot mop with spinning pads, a vacuum-only option, and an upgraded version of its Spot+Scrub AI, which adds UV detection and comes in white. Nurovi supposedly stands for “neural intelligence” combined with a camera-based vision system, which makes the robots better at navigation than prior models — based on limited demos I saw at IFA in Berlin. All three robots go on sale this month.

<em>The Dyson R3 Nurovi Spot+Scrub UV, $1,199, is a vacuum and mop with UV detection to spot and identify stains using Dyson’s signature green illumination. It has 30,000 Pa suction power, and the roller mop extends to clean edges.</em>
<em>Left, the Dyson R1 Nurovi Dry, $549, is a vacuum-only robot, with 21,000Pa and a smaller auto-empty dock. Right, the Dyson R2 Nurovi Wash+Dry, $699, uses spinning mopping pads instead of a roller mop. It’s available at Costco.</em>
<em>The R2’s triangular mopping pads can extend and are designed to give better coverage.</em>
<em>The R1 doesn’t have a mopping function.</em>
1/4
The Dyson R3 Nurovi Spot+Scrub UV, $1,199, is a vacuum and mop with UV detection to spot and identify stains using Dyson’s signature green illumination. It has 30,000 Pa suction power, and the roller mop extends to clean edges.
iRobot unveils the Roomba DuoiRobot unveils the Roomba Duo
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Roborock dives into pool robots.

It’s launching the RockAqua P1, which can clean up your pool floor, walls, and waterline with a suction power of up to 6,800 gallons per hour. The device has a 3.5-hour runtime for floor cleaning and will automatically return to the water’s surface when it needs a charge or has finished cleaning.

1/2Image: Roborock
The robot butler dream doesn’t have legs

After years of living with home robots, I think we’re chasing the wrong machine.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
China’s robots race ahead

Bots were breaking records and breaking down at Beijing’s World Humanoid Robot Games.

Robert Hart
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
ICE to buy Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots to “support public safety.”

A notice published on the Department of Homeland Security’s website says the agency plans to spend up to $2 million on Boston Dynamics’ robot dog, as reported earlier by 404 Media. This comes just weeks after the Associated Press reported that ICE aims to spend up to $20 million on gloves that deliver electric shocks.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
The most powerful Arduino yet is a $299 board for autonomous robots.

Arduino and Qualcomm have opened preorders for the Ventuno Q, an edge AI board designed to run agentic AI locally. Powered by a Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ8 processor offering up to 40 TOPS alongside a dedicated real-time microcontroller, it allows smart devices and robots to process vision, speech, and sensor data completely offline.

1/3
Robert Hart
Robert Hart
China’s robot ouroboros.

Humanoid robot makers are earning much of their revenue selling bots to government-backed training centers, which then sell training data back to the industry, the FT reports. It’s AI circularity all over again, stoking fresh humanoid bubble fears as Unitree soars in its stock market debut despite the US foreign robot ban.

This robot vacuum solves my kitchen stool problem

Hands-on with Mova’s new V70 Ultra Complete and its mopping arm that cleans hard-to-reach spots.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Did Unitree’s ‘Superman’ robot just run faster than Usain Bolt?

The just-IPO’d Chinese robot maker claims it beat two human world records in one video: highest standing high jump and fastest running speed. Bolt’s top speed was 12.22 meters per second; Unitree claims 12.66. Robot marathons and MMA matches are now a thing in China, while the US is banning imports of such robots.

Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies

The $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro is a great pooper-scooper wrapped in AI that just doesn’t work.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
I finally found a robot lawnmower I’d trust with my yard

I pitted five automowers against each other to find the best cutter for my challenging garden.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Ballie refuses to die.

Samsung’s adorable rolling robot was never officially killed off, but it also never made it to retail as promised. SammyGuru just discovered an unmistakable Ballie-looking icon inside an official Samsung app during an APK teardown. More proof of life or just another death rattle?

<em>The icon upscaled.</em>
<em>The iconic robot that failed to launch.</em>
1/2
The icon upscaled.
Image: SammyGuru
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
This robot plays pretty acoustic guitar melodies.

Music-playing robots are nothing new. It’s been 13 years since Compressorhead went viral, after all. But this DIY project from Reddit user MegCell is still pretty impressive. The melody isn’t hard-coded, either. Instead, the robot can read MusicXML files, meaning, theoretically, it can play almost any song you want.

The ban on robot vacuums won’t make them safer, only worse

You’ll have fewer robot floor cleaners to choose from and higher prices.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
The US is banning foreign robotsThe US is banning foreign robots
Emma Roth and Sean Hollister
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Watch 1X’s NEO robot try out a new pair of dexterous hands.

For a robot to effectively help with chores it needs to be able to interact with an environment designed for human hands. So 1X has developed a new pair of artificial hands for its $20,000 NEO Home Robot featuring 25 degrees of freedom in the fingers, palms, and thumbs allowing them to skillfully complete tasks like assembling Lego.